Life
1943- ; [pseud. of James Hogan, adopted from the original of Dryden’s
MacFlecknoe]; b. Cork, son of James Hogan, Professor of History; qualified
in medical science as epidemiologist, working in Romford Hospital, London;
visited Shaw at Ayot St Lawrence; meets George Barker and others through
employee at the publisher Hutchinson; early poems anthologised by John
Montague (Faber Book of Irish Verse, 1974); published trans. from
Irish and Portuguese; contrib. obituary of Brian Coffey in The Guardian
(21 April 1995); short autobiographical pieces published in little
magazines gathered as Light Years (2002). DIL
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Works
Poetry, Survival (Dublin: New Writers’
1969); On Loaning Hill (Dublin: New Writers’ 1972);
Rosemaries: A Verse Sequence (Southampton: Advent 1976), 20pp.; Tapestry
Of Animals (London: Menard 1977), 13pp.[ill. Brenda Rudolf]; The
Credit: A Comedy Of Empeiria ( London: Menard 1980), 35pp.; The
Credit: Book Two, Book Three (Southampton: Advent; London: Menard
1986), 71pp., [ill. John Parsons]; Adaptations (Dublin: Hardpressed
Poetry 1989), 12pp. [ltd. ed. 120 copies]; Lightning in Low Places
(Coleraine: Cranagh 1999), 19pp.
Translations, Thomas Francis O'Rahilly, Dánta Grádha: Love Poems from the Irish 1350-1750, English trans. by Augustus Young (London: Menard; Southampton: Advent 1975), 22pp. [note: ‘‘Being translations from: Dánta Grádha: An Anthology of Irish Love Poetry, by T. F. O'Rahilly, Cork University Press, 1926.’’], [rev. edn.] (London: Menard 1980), 24pp.; Jose Neves da Silva, ABC da inflacao = ABC of Inflation, English trans. by Augustus Young (Belfast: Honest Ulsterman Publications 1991), 10pp.; ed. and English trans., Lampion And His Bandits : The Literature Of Cordel In Brazil (London: Menard 1994), 73pp. [ill. A. Jones]; ‘Poems from Irish’, adapted by Augustus Young, in The Honest Ulsterman, 46, 23 [Tom Cyde, Index of Honest Ulsterman, 1995, q.p.].
Miscellaneous, short piece in Gerald Dawe & Jonathan Williams, eds., Krino, ‘The State of Poetry’ [Special Issue] (Winter 1993), pp.64-68; ‘Dram, Duggan and Love Darcy’, in Books Ireland [May 2000], "New Writing", pp.148-49; Light Years (Enitharmon/London Mag. Edns.), 312pp. [autobiography].
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Criticism
Michael Smith notices On Loaning Hill in ‘The Contemporary
Situation in Irish Poetry’, in Douglas Dunn, Two Decades of Irish
Writing (1975), [q.p.]; [q.a.], review of Lightning in Low Places,
in Books Ireland (March 2000), p.81.
Kevin Kiely, review of Light Years, in Books Ireland (Sept. 2002), pp.201-02. See also review in Cork Review (Winter 2002), and sundry book notices.
[q.a.], review of Lightning in Low Places, in Books Ireland (March 2000).
Peter Reading,
reviewing of Augustus Young, Light Years, with John Montague, Company
in Times Literary Supplement (12 April 2002).
Alannah Hopkins, reviewing Light Years in The Irish Times (27 April 2002) [Weekend].
Kevin Kiely, ‘Slippery Slopes of Parnassus’, reviewing Light Years in Books Ireland (September 2002).
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Notes
Robert Hogan, ed., Dictionary of Irish Literature (1979),
remarks, ‘... absolute lack of poetic technique to focus his wit,
but his cleverness of conception and terseness of language can sometimes
overcome his technical deficiencies. His translations from Irish do, however,
rise to some formal strength ’
John Montague, ed., Faber Book of Irish Verse (London: Faber 1974) anthologises ‘‘The Last Refuge’’; ‘‘After Five Years’’ and ‘‘Elegy for a School-friend’’.
Sean Dunne ed., Poets of Munster: An Anthology (London: Anvil 1985), includes excerpts from ‘‘Mr. Thackeray on Cork’’.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)